This bulletin would have been out sooner on the blog had I not tweaked my back. Apologies folks. Health comes first though.Over the past two months, we’ve begun to share our plans for the current year and beyond. We started to announce new characters, vehicles, and re-mastered maps. In the near future, we’ll have more to share on everything from Halo: The Master Chief Collection to Halo: Nightfall, and more. We know you’re anxiously awaiting more details on these projects, and it just so happens that we’ll have new info to share with you quite soon. The next stop for the Halo team is sunny San Diego for the world famous Comic-Con International.

Halo @ San Diego Comic-Con 2014

A week from today, the team will be heading down to Southern California to give you a first look at Halo: Nightfall and provide you with more information on Halo: The Master Chief Collection. We’ll have dedicated panels for each project at Comic-Con. Check out the official descriptions below.

Halo: Nightfall First-Look
Thursday, July 24, 11:45 a.m. – 12:45 p.m., Room 6BCF

Prepare for your next step in the Halo Journey with a deep-dive into Halo: Nightfall, the upcoming live-action digital series from 343 Industries and Scott Free Productions. Join 343’s Kiki Wolfkill (Executive Producer), Frank O’Connor (Franchise Development Director) along with key Halo: Nightfall cast and crew, to be among the first to get details of the story and production, as well as see a short video tease.

HFFL: Man, I wish I could be there for the panel, specifically that teaser trailer.

Halo: The Master Chief Collection Developer Panel
Friday, July 25, 10:15 a.m. – 11:15 a.m., Room 6BCF

Join 343 Industries’ Senior Producer Dennis Ries, Franchise Director Frank O’Connor, Certain Affinity’s President and original Halo 2 multiplayer and online design lead Max Hoberman, and other guests for an in-depth conversation about Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Fans can hear about what to expect from the compilation and discuss the efforts being made to bring the story of the Master Chief and Halo’s legendary multiplayer to a new generation.

Both of the above panels will provide exclusive insight into each project from creators and developers – if you’ll be at Comic-Con, be sure to get in line early to reserve your spot! The panels will not be live-streamed, but we will be recording and posting the panels to YouTube and Waypoint over the weekend – keep an eye on our official YouTube channel.

HFFL: Well, crappers! I won’t be able to post the info at the exact second when it becomes available. However, you can believe I’ll keep my eyes on twitter for the info and post the vids when available.

We’ll also be hanging out in the Xbox Lounge at the Manchester Grand Hyatt throughout the weekend (from 11:00 A.M. Thursday through 5:00 P.M. Sunday, to be exact). We’ll have lots to do, including live demos of Halo: The Master Chief Collection, live artist sessions, opportunities to create your own mini Spartan helmets, photo opportunities with badass props from our friends over at Stony Props, and more. Swing by and join us! Lastly, stay tuned to Twitter, Instagram, and Waypoint next week for the latest from Comic-Con, including breaking Halo news, social media contests, giveaways, and more.

HFFL: Create your own Spartan Mini Helmets? Damn…Sounds like I’m really missing out here. Well, I’m sure there will be plenty of pics. Expect me to repost those here for you all to see as well.

Matchmaking Update

Next week, we’ve got a returning favorite coming to Halo 4 Matchmaking. Big Team SWAT will be our featured playlist, and be available until August 4. If you just so happen to be a fan of racking up an absurd amount of headshots and multikills, be sure to hop into the playlist and do some damage. If you aren’t a fan of racking up an absurd amount of headshots and multikills, I’m concerned.

HFFL: It’s not that I don’t like getting many head shots or multikills, I’m just not much of a SWAT fan anymore. Now if they included the Plasma Pistol and the Boltshot as one shot headshot kills like they do the magnum, in SWAT, then you bet I’d be all over that!

We also added Quick Draw to the Team Doubles playlist, and it will appear occasionally in the third voting slot. The game type should offer a change of pace from the currently available Slayer and CTF variants. Lastly, we’ve done some usual housekeeping and cleaned up a few of the Flood maps and as well as other minor tweaks to keep things running smoothly.

Halo 5: Guardians Forza 5 Fan-Made Livery

We like to think that custom Forza liveries and Halo go together pretty well. A few years back, we had a Warthog make an appearance in the fourth installment, and not too long ago, we collaborated with the designers at Turn 10 to create a special limited edition Halo: Spartan Assault-themed livery for Forza Motorsport 5 – the Halo: Spartan Assault 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 302.

Shortly after the announce of Halo 5: Guardians, our friend and Forza wizard, @Forza_ElMutem crafted this nifty livery on the McLaren P1 featuring Halo 5: Guardians art. Take a look at this beauty below!

HFFL: That does look pretty spiffy. Yes, I used the word spiffy… Another kind of genre I used to like was racing. I’ve been away from it for awhile (not including Halo race). Hmm, I wonder how easy/hard it is to make a skin for a vehicle in Forza?

Screenshot Spotlight: Quarterback
Last week, we turned the spotlight on Snazzy Skins. Take a gander at the following Quarterback screenshots, and maybe even find inspiration to make your own.

HFFL: Of these choices, I like ‘In the Zone’ by Z6NITRO and another by Z6NITRO, ‘Exploding Fastball’. Hmm, perhaps THIS is the week I submit a pic for the screenshot? I’ve got that nifty (yes, I also used nifty) Supressor skin along with the accompanying Venator skin.

For your chance at being in the next spotlight, take a screenshot that features a Suppressor and tag it with “Suppressor” and “Halo Waypoint,” and maybe, just maybe, yours will be featured in the next Halo Bulletin!

HFFL: Z6NITRO seems to get a lot of mentions. That tells me that either he’s just that good or more likely that not so many people submit screenshots. Okay, that’s it, I’m in this week!

And with that, this week’s Bulletin comes to an end. Swing by next week for an early look at San Diego Comic-Con!

Until then,
Bravo
P.S. If you’ll be at Comic-Con, be sure to drop me a line on Twitter and let me know!

-Sal